Critical considerations of space and place at the end of life have been limited in the social science literature. To address this gap, we draw on empirical data from two interrelated but separate qualitative Australian data sets to critically examine dying in relation to considerations of space, place and affect. These studies share the primary aim to better understand and articulate end-of-life experiences, with one using video reflexive ethnography and the other semi-structured interviews with patients. Challenging the broader valorisation of particular places of dying and death (e.g. home, hospice, hospital), we critically explore the meanings and affects of space and place and how they are rooted in normative expectations. Drawing on participant accounts we interrogate simplistic concepts of home versus hospice, or hospital versus community, developing a critical social science of the intersections of space and place at the end of life.
Despite improvement in the care of patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD), mortality is rising. In the United States, patients are increasingly choosing to die at hospice and home, but data in patients with ESLD are lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to describe trends in location of death in patients with ESLD. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional analysis using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging OnLine Data for Epidemiologic Research from 2003-2018. Death location was categorized as hospice, home, inpatient, nursing home, or other. Comparisons were made between gender, age, ethnicity, race, region, and with other causes of death. Comparisons were also made between rates of change (calculated as annual percent change), proportion of deaths in 2018, and with multivariable logistic regression. 535,261 deaths were attributed to ESLD - most were male, non-Hispanic, and White. The proportion of deaths at hospice and home increased over the study period from 0.2% to 10.6% and 20.3% to 25.7%, respectively. Whites had the highest proportion of deaths in hospice and home. In multivariable analysis, elderly patients were more likely to die in hospice or home (OR 1.20 CI 1.07-1.35), while black patients were less likely (OR 0.58 CI 0.46-0.73). Compared to other causes of death, ESLD had the second highest proportion of deaths in hospice but lagged behind non-hepatocellular carcinoma malignancy.
CONCLUSION: Deaths in patients with ESLD are increasingly common at hospice and home overall, and while the rates have been increasing among black patients, they are still less likely to die at hospice or home. Efforts to improve this disparity, promote end-of-life care planning, and enhance access to death at hospice and home are needed.
BACKGROUND: Place of death is important to patients and caregivers, and often a surrogate measure of health care disparities. While recent trends in place of death suggest an increased frequency of dying at home, data is largely unknown for older adults with cancer.
METHODS: Deidentified death certificate data were obtained via the National Center for Health Statistics. All lung, colon, prostate, breast, and pancreas cancer deaths for older adults (defined as >65 years of age) from 2003 to 2017 were included. Multinomial logistic regression was used to test for differences in place of death associated with sociodemographic variables.
RESULTS: From 2003 through 2017, a total of 3,182,707 older adults died from lung, colon, breast, prostate and pancreas cancer. During this time, hospital and nursing home deaths decreased, and the rate of home and hospice facility deaths increased (all p < 0.001). In multivariable regression, all assessed variables were found to be associated with place of death. Overall, older age was associated with increased risk of nursing facility death versus home death. Black patients were more likely to experience hospital death (OR 1.7) and Hispanic ethnicity had lower odds of death in a nursing facility (OR 0.55). Since 2003, deaths in hospice facilities rapidly increased by 15%.
CONCLUSION: Hospital and nursing facility cancer deaths among older adults with cancer decreased since 2003, while deaths at home and hospice facilities increased. Differences in place of death were noted for non-white patients and older adults of advanced age.
De quoi et où meurent les Françaises et Français ? Quelle est l’offre sanitaire globale mais aussi plus spécifiquement de soins palliatifs aujourd’hui en France ? Quel est le profil des patients pris en charge dans les unités de soins palliatifs ? Quelle est la part des personnes âgées de 75 ans et plus dans les statistiques de mortalité ? Quelles sont leurs particularités ? Observe-t-on des différences géographiques concernant toutes ces données ?
Cette deuxième édition de l'Atlas national a vocation à répondre à ces multiples questions pour aider le lecteur à appréhender les enjeux et les réalités de l’accompagnement de la fin de vie et de la place des soins palliatifs en France aujourd’hui. Il rassemble des données démographiques, sanitaires qui sont analysées le plus finement possible pour mettre en lumière les spécificités départementales en termes d’offre sanitaire mais aussi de besoins des patients dans leurs trajectoires de fin de vie.
Si, dans un premier temps, il peut paraître évident que ce sont les patients qui nous mettent en difficulté à travers le chemin douloureux de la maladie, il s’avère que les quelques cas qui ont engendré chez moi un ressenti de solitude, et par extension de désarroi, étaient tous liés à des incompréhensions avec les autres professionnels de santé en soins palliatifs. Accepter l’exercice d’écrire m’a permis de réfléchir rétroactivement sur les mécanismes en jeu, dans le but de progresser bien sûr, mais aussi d’éviter de nouvelles situations inconfortables.
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BACKGROUND: Most older people wish to live in the familiar surroundings of their own home until they die. Knowledge concerning dignity and dignity loss of home-dwelling older women living with incurable cancer should be a foundation for quality of care within municipal healthcare services. The informal caregivers of these women can help increase the understanding of sources related to dignity and dignity loss.
AIM: The aim of this study was to explore informal caregivers' perceptions of sources related to dignity and dignity loss in end-of-life of older home-dwelling women with incurable cancer.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD: The study was founded upon Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics. In-depth interviews with 13 informal caregivers were carried out, and four participant observations were performed during home meetings.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATION: The study was based on voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality and the opportunity to withdraw at any time. The Norwegian Social Science Data Services approved the study.
RESULTS: Three main sources important in preserving the older women's dignity were identified: maintaining one's self-concept, remaining hopeful and sustaining freedom of choice. We also identified three main sources that lead to dignity loss: Sensing loss of human value, experiencing absence of gentleness and feelings of being treated as an object.
DISCUSSION AND FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: On the individual level, the opportunity to maintain one's self-concept and control in life, preserved dignity, while feelings of existential loneliness led to dignity loss. On the relational level, being confirmed as worthy human beings promoted the women's dignity, whereas dignity loss was related to uncaring behaviours from healthcare professionals. On the societal level, individual decisions concerning travel situations and the place to stay when nearing end-of-life were of crucial importance. Constituting these women's living space, these perspectives should be emphasized in healthcare professionals' educational training and in the municipal end-of-life care of these patients.
BACKGROUND: A growing number of informal caregivers (IFCs) manage hospice patients' anxiety by administering lorazepam (Ativan), yet little is known about prescribing practices in home care or the extent to which IFCs carry out regimens.
DESIGN AND METHODS: Data on hospice prescribed lorazepam was determined through a retrospective review of medication records from 216 deceased patients. The dose of lorazepam and type of regimen (i.e., scheduled, PRN, combination) as well as frequency with which it was administered by IFCs was calculated upon admission to a residential care home and on patients' day of death.
RESULTS: The majority (63.1%) of patients were prescribed lorazepam on admission to the home, and more (79.5%) were prescribed lorazepam on the day of death. While higher doses of lorazepam were prescribed and administered on the day of death, the percentage of medication consumed was low on admission (17%) and day of death (27%). Nearly all (92.8%) prescribed lorazepam on the day of death were allowed PRN medication. For PRN only regimens, less than a quarter (24.4%) of patients were given lorazepam on admission with less than half (40.4%) given it while dying. Highest lorazepam administration rates (91.2%) occurred on the day of death when lorazepam was prescribed under a combined regimen.
CONCLUSION: The high frequency of PRN regimens reveal that IFCs are frequently tasked with making decisions about if and when to administer lorazepam. Low overall lorazepam administration suggests a closer monitoring of lorazepam use and enhanced support of IFCs may be needed.
PURPOSE: Understanding the end-of-life psychosocial needs of cancer patients at home is a knowledge gap. This study describes the trajectory of psychosocial symptoms in the last 6 months of life among cancer decedents who were receiving home care.
METHODS: Observational population-based cohort study of cancer decedents who were receiving home care services between 2007 and 2014. Decedents had to have at least one home care assessment in the last 6 months of life for inclusion. Outcomes were the presence of psychosocial symptoms (i.e., anxiety, loneliness, depression, social decline, caregiver distress, and cognitive decline) at each week before death.
RESULTS: Our cohort included 27,295 unique cancer decedents (30,368 assessments), of which 58% died in hospital. Fifty-six percent were older than 74, and 47% were female. The prevalence of all symptoms increased approaching death, except loneliness. Social decline (48%-78%) was the most prevalent psychosocial symptom, though loneliness was reported in less than 10% of the cohort. Caregiver distress rose over time from 15%-27%. A third of the cohort reported issues with cognitive impairment. Multivariate regression showed that physical symptoms such as uncontrolled pain, impairment in independent activities of daily living, and a high level of health instability all significantly worsened the odds of having a psychosocial symptom in the last 3 months of life.
CONCLUSION: In this large home care cancer cohort, trajectories of psychosocial symptoms worsened close to death. Physical symptoms, such as uncontrolled pain, were associated with having worse psychosocial symptoms at end of life.
Providing home care to children with complex physical health needs is an emotionally challenging role. Extant literature and documents such as the Cavendish Review (2013) have reported that a large proportion of care for this population is carried out by non-registered staff (support workers). Provision of clinical supervision for nurses working in palliative care is increasing, however, supervision needs of support workers are commonly neglected. This paper sought to synthesise what is known about clinical supervision practices for support workers in paediatric palliative care (PPC). A literature review was conducted in accordance with integrative review guidelines. 315 papers were identified initially, 15 studies were included in this review. Four commonalities were identified: importance of team cohesion, varying degrees of formality, self-awareness and practicalities. Support workers received varying forms of supervision and some facilitators faced organisational difficulties involving staff in supervision. Support workers who received staff support generally appreciated it in recognition that their work is complex and emotionally difficult. This paper highlighted that further research should investigate the efficacy of clinical supervision as a method of reducing stress and burnout for support workers. Any implementation of supervision should involve a considered approach to training and supervision to ensure fidelity.
In this study, we explored and identified crucial experiences that constitute dignity and loss of dignity among older women living with incurable cancer at home. In-depth interviews with 13 women, and participant observations of five of these women, were performed. Hermeneutical interpretations of interview texts and field notes were conducted. Crucial experiences that preserved the women's dignity included having a sense of control, making one's own decisions, experiencing hope and meaningfulness, feeling valued as a human being and having the opportunity to be in a treasured and nurturing environment. Dignity loss was related to losing the opportunity for self-determination, sensing hopelessness and worthlessness in a shroud of illness, experiencing violation of their personal life and being situated in surroundings that enhanced their sense of disconnection and alienation. Quality of care was experienced as more important than the physical place in which to spend their final stage of life. The findings suggest that dignity preservation should be a core dimension in care for older women living with incurable cancer at home. Future research should investigate how dignity-preserving care can be organized and practiced within municipal palliative care services.
Introduction : Cicely Saunders a introduit la notion de « total pain » dans la médecine palliative. Dans cette approche, l’attention aux besoins spirituels – dont la religion – en fait partie intégrante. Le médecin généraliste (MG) tient un rôle important dans les soins palliatifs jusqu’au décès à domicile. Cette étude s’intéresse à l’abord de la religion par les MG avec leurs patients.
Méthode : Douze entretiens semi-directifs ont été menés auprès de médecins généralistes (MG) exerçant dans les Hautes-Pyrénées. Le guide d’entretien a été construit suite à l’élaboration d’un protocole de validation qui a aussi servi à l’analyse des données. L’émergence de nouveaux indicateurs ont été intégrés dans cette grille.
Résultats : Les besoins spirituels et religieux sont peu cités par les MG parmi les besoins de la personne malade, contrairement aux besoins physiques et psychologiques. L’abord de la religion par les MG est relié aux « non-dits » et à la gêne ressentie. Certains sollicitent une personne ressource. L’inexpérience, la crainte de prosélytisme, le manque de temps et la laïcité sont d’autres facteurs cités. Le fait que la demande vienne du patient et les convictions personnelles du MG influencent l’abord de ce sujet. Les aspects religieux les plus cités sont la vie après la mort, les rites funéraires et les représentants du culte.
Conclusion : Dans cette étude qualitative, il apparaît que les besoins spirituels et religieux sont peu évoqués par les MG bien qu’ils considèrent comme important le respect des convictions des patients, l’empathie et le rôle privilégié qu’ils tiennent. Les causes en sont multiples et sont ancrées dans la relation médecin–malade.
Introduction : Les personnes atteintes de cancer et vivant à domicile sont de plus en plus en nombreuses. Les proches aidants sont des acteurs importants auprès de la personne malade. Ils sont confrontés, à ce titre, aux douleurs cancéreuses sévères de leur proche. La douleur est l’un des symptômes les plus fréquents en cancérologie, souvent insuffisamment soulagée. L’objectif de cette étude était de mieux connaître la perception qu’ont les proches aidants de leur rôle à domicile, particulièrement vis-à-vis de la douleur liée au cancer et de ses traitements.
Méthode : Une étude qualitative a été menée au moyen d’entretiens semi-dirigés auprès de proches aidants de patients atteints d’un cancer en phase palliative spécifique ou symptomatique et présentant des douleurs nécessitant l’administration d’opioïdes. Les thèmes explorés ont été la communication, l’anticipation, la coordination, l’accompagnement et l’adaptation.
Résultats : Douze entretiens ont été réalisés. La plupart des proches aidants disent se rendre disponibles pour le confort du patient, la surveillance des symptômes et l’usage des opioïdes. Ces derniers sont sources de nombreux questionnements. En outre, les proches aidants se sentent responsables de tout faire et de s’organiser pour faire face à la douleur. Enfin, ils se considèrent comme les mieux placés pour soutenir au quotidien le patient, tant pour les aspects pratiques que socio-affectifs. Les professionnels de santé, en particulier les infirmiers libéraux, sont des éléments importants sur lesquels ils peuvent s’appuyer.
Discussion : L’enjeu pour les proches aidants est de conforter leur rôle dans le soulagement des douleurs du malade à domicile. Communiquer, coordonner les différents acteurs et participer aux prises de décision sont les moyens d’y parvenir mais ces fonctions sont variables dans le temps. Il convient de trouver l’équilibre dans la charge qui leur incombe. Cela invite les professionnels à être attentifs à leurs besoins en proposant une aide flexible et adaptée à chaque situation.
BACKGROUND: Patient access to medicines at home during the last year of life is critical for symptom control, but is thought to be problematic. Little is known about healthcare professionals' practices in supporting timely medicines access and what influences their effectiveness. The purpose of the study was to evaluate health professionals' medicines access practices, perceived effectiveness and influencing factors.
METHODS: On-line questionnaire survey of health care professionals (General Practitioners, Community Pharmacists, community-based Clinical Nurse Specialists and Community Nurses) delivering end-of-life care in primary and community care settings in England. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics.
RESULTS: One thousand three hundred twenty-seven responses were received. All health professional groups are engaged in supporting access to prescriptions, using a number of different methods. GPs remain a predominant route for patients to access new prescriptions in working hours. However, nurses and, increasingly, primary care-based pharmacists are also actively contributing. However, only 42% (160) of Clinical Nurse Specialists and 27% (27) of Community Nurses were trained as prescribers. The majority (58% 142) of prescribing nurses and pharmacists did not have access to an electronic prescribing system. Satisfaction with access to shared patient records to facilitate medicines access was low: 39% (507) were either Not At All or only Slightly satisfied. Out-of-hours specialist cover was reported by less than half (49%; 656) and many General Practitioners and pharmacists lacked confidence advising about out-of-hours services. Respondents perceived there would be a significant improvement in pain control if access to medicines was greater. Those with shared records access reported significantly lower pain estimates for their caseload patients.
CONCLUSIONS: Action is required to support a greater number of nurses and pharmacists to prescribe end-of-life medicines. Solutions are also required to enable shared access to patient records across health professional groups. Coverage and awareness of out-of-hours services to access medicines needs to be improved.
Background: Family caregiving is common globally, but when a family member needs palliative and end-of-life care, this requires knowledge and expertise in dealing with symptoms, medication, and treatment side effects. Caring for a family member with advanced prostate cancer in the home presents practical and emotional challenges, especially in resource-poor contexts, where there are increasing palliative cases without adequate palliative care institutions.
Aim: The study explored palliative and end-of-life care experiences of family caregivers and patients living at home in a resource-poor context in Ghana.
Design: This is a qualitative study using thematic analysis of face-to-face interviews at two-time points.
Participants: Men living with advanced prostate cancer (n = 23), family caregivers (n = 23), healthcare professionals (n = 12).
Findings: Men with advanced prostate cancer face complex issues, including lack of access to professional care and a lack of resources for homecare. Family caregivers do not have easy access to professional support; they often have limited knowledge of disease progression. Patients have inadequate access to medication and other practical resources for homecare. Caregivers may be overburdened and perform the role of the patient’s ‘doctor’ at home-assessing patient’s symptoms, administering drugs, and providing hands-on care.
Conclusion: Home-based care is promoted as an ideal and cost-effective model of care, particularly in Westernised palliative care models. However, in resource-poor contexts, there are significant challenges associated with the implementation of this model. This study revealed the scale of challenges family caregivers, who lack basic training on aspects of caring, face in providing home care unsupported by healthcare professionals.
BACKGROUND: The attention of healthcare professionals is directed mainly towards the recipients of care and often insufficiently towards family carers. However, an effective collaboration between professionals and family carers is vital to provide quality palliative and end-of-life care. Such collaboration is under-studied in a palliative care context.
AIM: This study aimed to investigate how family carers of people who live at home with a life-limiting chronic illness experience and perceive collaboration with different healthcare professionals in the last phase of life.
DESIGN: Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with the primary family carers of people with a life-limiting chronic illness. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data.
SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: A heterogeneous sample of 30 family carers of people with cancer, heart failure or dementia was recruited through a variety of care providers and services, in order to reflect the heterogeneity of caregiving in serious illness.
RESULTS: Five main themes emerged from interpretative phenomenological analysis that describe the quality of the collaboration between family carers and professionals: respecting family carers both as someone with care needs and as a member of the care team; the continuous availability and accessibility of healthcare professionals; the provision of information and communication including family carer issues; the coordination of care between all parties and contextual factors. The dominant experience by family carers was one of missed opportunities across these themes.
CONCLUSIONS: This qualitative study about the experiences and perceptions of family carers of people with a chronic life-limiting illness living at home regarding the collaboration with different healthcare providers in the last phase life, showed that family carers experience a lot of possibilities, but perceive missed opportunities as well, for healthcare professionals to effectively collaborate with them for palliative care.
BACKGROUND: A sense of place (SOP) is defined as the emotional bonds, values, meaning, and symbols attached to a place.
AIMS: To assess SOP of patients with cancer during end-of-life care at home (home-hospice service) versus at a hospital in relation to place of care, social support, and emotional distress.
METHODS: Participants were 150, stage IV, cancer patients with a life expectancy of less than 6 months, as defined by oncological staff, who were not receiving any life-prolonging care. Seventy-five patients received care at home (home-hospice), and the other 75 received care at the oncology department at the hospital, by palliative unit staff. Participants completed the Brief Symptom Inventory anxiety and depression subscales, questionnaires on perceived support and both questionnaires on home SOP and hospital SOP.
RESULTS: Mean scores of emotional distress were similar for patients in home-hospice and at the hospital. Home SOP among individuals receiving care at home was high, and hospital SOP was high among hospitalized individuals. The structural equation model had good fit indexes, showing that each of the SOP variables mediated the association between place of care and emotional distress. Perceived support was associated with lower distress only in the hospital setting.
CONCLUSIONS: The SOP concept is relevant to understanding emotional distress in relation to place of care at end of life. Strengthening SOP in relation to place of care should be considered. As newly introduced concept regarding place of care at the end of life, SOP warrants further research.
BACKGROUND: Many older people wish to die at home. However, there is still a huge gap between the place where older adults wish to die and the place where they, in fact, do die. We aimed to assess the association between each type of long-term care (LTC) services that home-dwelling older individuals utilized at their end of life and place of death.
METHODS: A pooled cross-sectional study at the point of death was used for the analysis. Participants included beneficiaries of long-term care insurance in Japan, aged 65 years and above, who passed away between January 2008 and December 2013, excluding those who died due to external factors and those who were using residential services at their time of death. We conducted a multivariate Poisson regression analysis with robust standard errors adjusting for potential confounders and examined the association between the use of each type of LTC service for home-dwelling recipients, including in-home services, day services, and short-stay services, with the interaction terms being time of death (exposure) and home death (outcome). We calculated the adjusted probability of home deaths for each combination pattern of LTC services for home-dwelling recipients using standard marginalization.
RESULTS: We analyzed 2,035,657 beneficiaries. The use of in-home services, day services, and short-stay services were associated with an increased probability of home deaths; the incident rate ratio (IRR) was 13.40 (with a 95% confidence interval (CI): 13.23-13.57) for in-home services, the IRR was 6.32 (6.19-6.45) for day services, and the IRR was 1.25 (1.16-1.34) for short-stay services. Those who used day or short-stay services with in-home services exhibited a higher probability of home deaths than those who used only day or short-stay services.
CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that home-dwelling older persons who used LTC services near end-of-life had a higher probability of home deaths as compared to those who did not. Our findings can clarify the importance of providing and integrating such services to support care recipients who wish to die at home as well as for the benefit of their informal caregivers.
BACKGROUND: Improvement in quality of life (QoL) of patients is one of the most important goals of palliative care, but evaluation of QoL of patients is difficult.
AIM: To evaluate QoL of patients who died at home or in a hospital.
METHODS: We administered the Good Death Inventory (10 core and 8 optional domains) to the bereaved families of patients who died at home or in a hospital. A total of 107 bereaved families undertook a survey.
FINDINGS: If a bereaved family chose 'somewhat agree', 'agree' or 'absolutely agree', the answer was regarded as a 'satisfactory answer'. Regarding the 10 core domains, of patients who died in a hospital, <50% respondents gave a 'satisfactory answer' to three questions, whereas of patients who died at home, >60% of respondents gave a 'satisfactory answer' to seven questions. Regarding the eight optional domains, of patients who died in a hospital, <50% respondents gave a 'satisfactory answer' to five questions, whereas of patients who died at home, >60% of respondents gave a 'satisfactory answer' to four questions.
CONCLUSIONS: QoL of patients who died at home appeared higher than that of those who died in a hospital. Patients prefer to remain at home rather than in a hospital, probably because at home they are surrounded by familiar things and can live according to their usual habits.
Cette réédition totalement revue et enrichie contribue à une appropriation des évolutions législatives portées par la loi du 2 février 2016 créant de nouveaux droits en faveur des malades et des personnes en fin de vie (droits de la personne, sédation profonde et continue, souffrance, directives anticipées opposables, etc.). Les conditions du mourir interrogent à la fois nos obligations sociales et les exigences du soin. Alors que s'instaurent une nouvelle culture de la fin de vie, de nouvelles solidarités, quelles seront les incidences sur les pratiques professionnelles au service de la personne malade et de ses proches ? Ces situations toujours singulières, irréductibles aux débats généraux portant sur "la mort dans la dignité" justifient une exigence de clarification, la restitution d’expériences et la transmission de savoirs vrais.
Dans une approche pluridisciplinaire, cet ouvrage associe les meilleures compétences pour proposer une synthèse rigoureuse et complète des réflexions et des expériences au cœur des débats les plus délicats de notre société. Il constitue une indispensable référence à destination des professionnels mais tout autant d'un large public, la concertation nationale sur la fin de vie ayant fait apparaître un important besoin d'informations dans ces domaines à la fois intimes et publics.
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